School of Liberal Arts

Applied Psychology B.S.

The Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology is designed to educate and prepare students for employment in two areas of concentration: business and human services.

Graduates will be prepared to work in a variety of human and social service settings – interviewing, problem solving with other professionals, management, customer service, worker satisfaction, interpersonal relationships, and providing intervention services under professional supervision.

The program will teach the current theories of psychology and show students how these theories apply to practical concerns such as management, customer service, worker satisfaction, interpersonal relationships, and general problem-solving. The program will also emphasize hands-on training in basic statistics, research methods, tests, and measures and will provide students with immediately applicable skills that will be useful across a broad range of situations.

Students will spend their first two years taking general education and basic psychology courses. Coursework will include, but not be limited to, Introduction to Applied Psychology and courses in developmental, social, industrial and organizational psychology. These courses prepare students for more specialized courses in their last two years, including hands-on work in data management, a basic grounding in statistics and research methods, and applied courses such as human motivation, personality, and group behavior. Students will also take courses in their chosen specialty of either human services or business, relating their coursework directly to their intended career.

Career Ready at Graduation

A unique aspect of the program is a full-time, semester-long internship in a business or human services-related setting, as well as extensive preparation for the internship through a course emphasizing job search skills and professional skills. This required internship component distinguishes this applied psychology B.S. program from a traditional psychology program, and provides students with the type of practical experience potential employers look for in entry-level employees.

One of the Fastest Growing Fields

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in entry-level human services jobs is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, with a 54-percent increase in health care and social assistance areas. Organizations are continually hiring individuals with skills in working with people that have a strong background in Psychology applied to human services. Students will have spent time in a variety of human service agencies, and will be prepared to work with other professionals in counseling, habilitation and rehabilitation, and social work to assist clients become successful in their lives. Graduates will be qualified for immediate employment locally and nationally.

The goal of the Applied Psychology program is to provide students with a solid education and relevant work experience that will make them appealing candidates for immediate employment, in any context that involves working with other people, including co-workers, customers, managers, and subordinates. Social service agencies and businesses will be able to make use of individuals who are capable of analyzing and interpreting data, understand the value and limitations of a wide variety of psychological instruments, have a basic understanding of inter-group processes, and have a general orientation toward critical thinking and problem-solving.

Like all Bachelor of Psychology degrees, this is not a clinical degree, and does not train students to treat or administer treatment to clients in any way. The completion of this baccalaureate degree will not qualify the holder to apply for, be hired for, or perform the duties related to, employment which involves the provision of services prohibited by New York State Education Law Article 153, Psychology, Paragraphs 7601 and 7601a. This prohibits graduates from Morrisville State College who hold a B.S. in Applied Psychology from performing tasks which only licensed providers are authorized to do under state law, such as providing counseling which is only to be done by licensed psychologists.